The dragon patiently heard the grievance of a little human child like a caring parent while maintaining its superiority. It kept her closer to its body to warm her up.
The dragons glistening color-changing black scales fascinated the small life to no end. She wanted to touch them but she dashed those thoughts away shaking her head.
"Um, why are you being so kind to me?"
The girl's words struck the prideful dragon. It grumbled, "I'm not being kind. Never." Swatting the ground with tail, "Don't be foolish."
It made her laugh slightly which caught the dragon's attention. What a captivating smile this little creature has, it thought to itself.
"Thank you, Mr. Dragon." Her eyes started warming up, "For saving me..and giving me something to eat." she was holding the apples and berries in her lap.
"Calling me Esyr is fine, human." It huffed, "What do they call you?" its eyes slightly moving in her direction.
Chomp.
"Linnea."
She bit into the apple hungrily despite the tingling pain in her tongue. Her wrists were bruised from the shackles the dragon tore apart with its claws earlier. All that remained in her countenance was resignation and gratitude towards her saviour.
A few days passed since she had been living with the dragon. That very day, she passed out a few times after eating and had to slumber against Esyr. He fed her magical elemental water to heal her stuttered tongue.
Although, the herbivore statement, he hunted a wild goose for the little human to replenish her energy over the days. The excuse was that he had been truly bored.
Esyr fussed out when he saw the beating marks on Linnea's body. 'Shall I shred them from limbs to limbs?' The dragon really enjoyed the evil thought of sadistically massacring a human village in a spur of the moment.
Then the next thought of healing her consumed his mind. 'Healing her through dipping her in the magical lake could be straineous to her frail body at the moment. '
He pondered everytime observing her peaceful face, 'The rejuvenation fruit is in the farthest part. If I go now, she'll freeze to death.' He shook his snout. He couldn't afford to lose his toy.
.....
...
On the other hand, in the Royal academy grounds, Kang Il-Seong approached his party member, Yoo Habin.
"Is the preparation going well?"
"Yes. Jihye's almost done making the dungeon Locator." Habin informed with a relaxed face, "I don't think Jihye needs any of us right now. Yumiya's almost done with her healing classes."
After a while, Kang Il-Seong teleported to the Northern regions using a magical scroll, to inspect. He walked around using the artifact called dungeon Locator. He has always believed the abnormal growth in the north to be the result of a hidden dungeon.
Since the royal family forbade anyone entering the barricaded forbidden grounds, Il-Seong needed to get the permission by proving the dungeon's existence.
He followed the path and stopped Infront of the invisible barrier separating the uninhabitable forbidden grounds from the rest. He picked out a metallic object that caused him to stumble in the ground.
'What is this? A headband?'
There's no way a human would come to this place. It deepened his suspicions since he found a piece of cloth here in the mountains the other day.
Suddenly, his gaze widened in shock as he spotted a half rotten dead baby in the snow. The rock beside it had dried blood stains can only mean... someone had thrown the poor little thing..from the....
His eyes followed upwards.
"The cliff."
The cliff almost encroached the barrier of the forbidden grounds. He gritted, 'How dare they...'
Moments later, Il-Seong left the entrace of the forbidden grounds after giving the baby a burial under the cliff.
.....
Esyr, the dragon, who sensed the presence of a human quickly dismissed the thought noticing Linnea burning up in fever.